Postcards from Hartford

It's got a way to go before becoming the signature skyscraper of the Hartford skyline, but this is The Travelers Insurance Tower, as depicted in a postcard carrying a 1909 postmark. Construction began in 1906 and continued in stages for more than a dozen years. At this point, the building consists of just the north half of the base of the tower.

The view is from Main Street, where The Travelers' main entrance was located until the 1960s. Here, you can see the entrance on the right side of the building; with the completion of the south half, the entrance would become the center point. The removal of the Aetna buildings farther south on Main Street (depicted in this postcard) allowed construction of the current entrance plaza, which faces Atheneum Square North. On the left is Grove Street, which at the time reached Main Street.